


The Path to Forgiveness

by Moonshine84



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, First Time, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:42:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonshine84/pseuds/Moonshine84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie finds Don in a compromising situation and makes his move</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sin

Sin

Darkness. Naked. Blindfolded. Just like he asked for. Just like he paid for.  
Don feels the other kneel on the bed behind his spread thighs. Feels the warm male hands position his hips for the perfect angle. Feels the slick finger slowly penetrate his achingly empty hole.  
Sliding in, moving out, opening. A soft moan escapes as one is joined by another. Moving delicately inside his warmth, getting him ready. A deep groan from the pit of his chest as the fullness of a third finger enters and stretches.

Not a sound from behind him as the unknown person stretches his most intimate place in readiness for the thick cock he’s paid for. Then tapering whimpers from Don, pleading, as the fingers are removed to be replaced by a slick thickness at his entrance.

“Now,” Don begs, finally vocalising his desire, “Fuck me, now.”  
A clenching of the hands holding his hips in place is the only signal that the broken plea has been heard. Then movement.  
The slight burn and pull as the one behind slowly, so maddeningly slowly slides inch by inch into his heat.

Deep groaning from both as the heated flesh moves in his innermost depths to its fullest; the feel of a hard pelvis striking his own causing Don to cry out the forbidden, “Charlie!”  
A gasp from behind then withdrawal of that which brings pleasure only to return as before; deep and slow, over and over, deep and slow and hard.

“More,” gasps Don as he feels his orgasm approaching, the body behind complying, striking deeper, fingers holding hard enough to bruise.  
A deep cry from within Don as heat flashes through his body, sparks behind his eyes, the feel of the other coming into the condom inside him.

Then withdrawal, emptiness as breath returns; as the knowledge of what he has once again done returns. “The money is in the top drawer,” states Don, voice strong with only a slight hitch to indicate what has occurred. “I’ll call when I need you again, just like always.”  
Then a voice from behind; the one that should never be here, can never know. “I don’t think so, Don.”  
Don gasps, whipping the blindfold from his eyes, turning on the ruined bed, “Charlie?”


	2. Confession

A ruined bed in a softly lit room; perhaps a ruined family too.  
“Charlie?” Breathes Don, as the sight before him registers.  
His brother, curly hair mussed and sweat glistening on his body; filled condom still on his flaccid cock; a reminder of what has been.

“How?” A pause as the sight before him really hits, the true implications of it sinking into his sex-fogged brain. “It was you? You were…Where’s the usual guy?” Confusion and shock masking the other feelings to come. The knowledge he has let his brother have him; that some part of him must have known and let it happen anyway.  
“I paid him,” whispers Charlie, arms and hands outstretched as if to calm a skittish animal, “I paid him and I took his place.”  
“You took his place,” says Don, swallowing hard, “Why?” The shock beginning to wear off, Don wants answers.  
How did Charlie know he was here and what he was doing? Why he wanted to be here too?

Sudden memory returning reminds Don that he is very naked and on a bed with his equally naked brother. Panic sets in.  
“I have to….I have to go,” says Don, breathing hard, reaching for forgotten clothes to pull them on. “I shouldn’t be here. This should never have happened.”  
“Don…”  
“No, Charlie. This should never have happened. I should never have….You should never have….found out. Never have come here.” 

Clothes on now, making a move for the door, Don speaks faster, breathless as panic and anger take over.  
“What were you thinking, Charlie! I’m your brother.”  
Then a slam as Don moves out the room; leaving Charlie with a blindfold and sweat stained sheets.


	3. Atonement

Dozens of messages, “Don, I’m sorry. We need to talk.” Knock on his door, emails, all for the same thing; contact with his brother, the one he betrayed.  
‘Should never have done it,’ thinks Charlie ‘Should have left it unspoken. I could have lived without that so long as he was here.’

Days without contact, then weeks; the longest time since their mother died.

*****************  
“Charlie, when was the last time you spoke to your brother?” Inquires Alan  
‘Oh God, Dad.' “He hasn’t needed me for a case, Dad,” says Charlie, “We just seem to keep missing each other”  
“Well, talk to him. I’m worried about him and he’s not listening to me. Maybe you can get through.”  
“Sure, Dad,” replies Charlie. 'I’m lucky if he doesn’t shoot me on sight.'  
“I mean it, Charlie.”  
“I’ll go over to his apartment tonight, Dad, how’s that?” A small smile, feeling sick inside. A nod from his Dad and Charlie’s fate is sealed.

*****************  
Numbers running through his head as he drives over. The number of homicides in the city in a year. The number that are firearms related. The number that involve family members.

Shakily pulling the car into the building’s car park, forcing himself from the car and into the elevator; all the while praying that Don is not home.  
Going to knock, hesitating, talking himself back into it, reaching for the door again, finally allowing the knuckles of his hand to hit the wood twice. Waiting, praying that there’s no answer and needing there to be one.  
Noise from inside, movement heading toward the door. Fear wells up in Charlie’s gut, closing his throat, robbing him of the ability to speak as the door opens and Don stands in the opening, highlighted by the flickering light from the T.V.; older, tired.

Tension without sound as they stare at one another, waiting for the first volley in this most important of conflicts. Movement again as Don steps back and motions Charlie into the room. Closes the door, locks them into their own personal hell of recrimination and regret.

“Don, I’m sorry.” A break in the vacuum, the first volley fired.  
“Why?” Asks Don, the question still unanswered from before, “How did you even know I would be there?” Investigator’s minds being applied to the problem as emotions are subjugated. “I always paid with cash. I checked to make sure I was never followed. I never told anyone.” Confusion and anger bleed through, emotions not entirely detached.  
“I saw you,” whispers Charlie, “I was picking up some assignments from a student of mine in the area. He’s been sick and his computer broke down. I saw you go into the building. You looked…” here Charlie pauses, assessing the tense man in front of him. How much to tell? “You looked like you were about to go in after a suspect only you didn’t have SWAT with you. I asked my student what the building housed; he wasn’t sure. I waited in my car until you came out. You weren’t as tense but still you kept checking the area. I waited till you drove away then I went in.” Charlie stops here, licking dry lips, trying to gather his thoughts.  
“You went in,” repeats Don, “Charlie, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” Moving closer to Charlie now, tension of betrayed lover momentarily over-ridden by the protective instincts of a big brother. “Charlie, I want you to promise me you won’t ever do anything that stupid again. Never follow me into somewhere you don’t know. What if I’d been working?” Closer now, only a foot of air separating their heated bodies. “Charlie, promise.”  
“I promise, Don,” Charlie realises how upset Don is and moves to comfort him but aborts the gesture as the memory of why they are here returns. “But I did go in and I found out what was there.” Don looks away at this, heat flushing his cheeks. “It was a bordello. Prostitutes. Sex for money. Why did you go there, Don?” Confusion in Charlie’s tone now; not understanding why his brother would pay for the most intimate of acts, “Why pay?”

A pause then an explosion of movement as Don turns away, runs his hand through his short dark hair, “Because I couldn’t let anyone know I wanted my own brother to fuck me, Charlie,” anger spilling out, coating the room. “I paid so when I got fucked and I screamed your name no one would ever know. Especially you.” Harsh breathing fills the room as Don realises what he has just said.  
Shock on Charlie’s features, his expressive eyes wide in his face, “Only me,” he whispers.  
“Finish,” bites out Don, not wanting to examine himself too closely.  
“I asked to speak to the one you had been with,” continues Charlie quickly, trying to finish in the hope of salvaging something. “They wouldn’t let me so I paid for him.” Another pause as Charlie recalls the shock of the meeting; seeing his hair and similar features coming at him out of the dark. A look at Don, knowledge in Charlie’s eyes causing a flush of shame to stain his features. “I saw what he looked like. I asked what his last client had paid for. He wouldn’t tell me; so I gave him more money. He talked pretty expansively after that. How you never wanted full light. You never took him from the front and never let him take you that way either. Always from behind. Sometimes with the blindfold. You always said ‘Charlie’ when you came.”

Dead silence and renewed tension in the room; each brother trying to assess the other without really looking.  
“I told him I was Charlie. That you were my lover,” Charlie stops as a sharp gasp from Don breaks his concentration. Shock written on his features, want and need playing at being hidden in his eyes. Charlie sees hope in that look. Hope for himself, for them. “Said we’d had a fight, that I hadn’t slept with you as a punishment. The guy seemed to find it amusing.” A rush to the finish now, to the most incriminating part of the tale, “I convinced him to call me the next time you contacted him. Paid him for it. Paid him to blindfold you, to let me in the room once the lights were down and you were naked and waiting.” Another pause, lengthier, strained, as both remember the events that followed.  
“I know what happened next,” whispers Don, “What I don’t know is why.” A sharp look at Charlie, a need to be told evident in his features.

“I’ve wanted you for years, Don,” a small whisper, stating fact, not ashamed but knowing that the answer won’t be welcome, “I’ve wanted you for years. These last few months, since I’ve been working with the team, seeing you more, have been wonderful. But I wanted more; what happened tells me you want it too.”  
A harsh shake of Don’s head, a denial in motion as he distances himself to the other side of the room, “It should never have happened, Charlie.” A raised hand and a sharp look to forestall any comment, “You’re my brother; my younger brother. I shouldn’t want you like this and it would kill Dad.”  
“He doesn’t have to know,” pleading now, seeing his future being snuffed out by society.  
“It’s illegal and immoral,” states Don.  
“Laws and morals are fluid social constructs,” counters Charlie, making a stand; willing to fight. “They change based on society’s desire. Siblings’ sleeping together was outlawed to prevent child abuse and dilution of the gene pool. We’re both consenting adults and both male. No chance of six fingered offspring.”  
A small smile from Don at that, then gone again, “It can’t happen, Charlie.”  
“If I can accept that, that I can only be your brother; will you come back?” Openly pleading now for any form of contact, “Will you talk to me again, involve me in your life?” Big brown eyes focused on Don’s face, willing to be allowed back into the light.  
“Charlie…”  
“Please, Don,” stopping him before he can start, “Dad’s worried and I bet your team are wondering why you haven’t brought me in,” resorting to outright blackmail now, desperate for the smallest crumb.  
“Yes,” a whisper soft sound-bite of submission, “Yes. If you can only be my brother, I’ll come back to the house and let you back in on cases.”  
‘Success!’ “I can do that,” an excitable promise to keep what he needs, “I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t shut me out again.”  
“Okay,” says Don. 

A pause as both men ponder the next step, the awkwardness. “You better go,” a plea for solitude in the guise of concern, “Both have to work tomorrow.” Moving toward the door now, “Tell Dad I’ll be over for dinner tomorrow if nothing comes up.”  
“I will.”  
At the door now, readying to leave, not wanting to.  
One last volley in the hope of victory as the door closes. “Don,” the door pauses in its movement, “If we both want it, why can’t we have it?”  
Finality as the door clicking shut is the only answer.


	4. Absolution

Weeks of strained dinners, of team briefings, of stolen and avoided glances. Broken dreams and fractured memories war to steal sleep and equilibrium.

“I’m taking a couple days leave,” states Don to the sudden quiet of his team, “I’ll be going on Thursday but I’ll be back at work on Monday.”  
“You do look a little tired, Don,” this from Megan, the first with the words to speak, “A few days rest might be just what you need.” A group nod from the rest of the team as an acknowledgment of Don’s distraction the last couple of weeks.  
“We better get this paperwork done before you go then,” this from David, bringing the conversation to a close.

*******************  
“I’m going away for the weekend with Stan,” dinner conversation at the Epps household pauses at this announcement. “A golf weekend. I leave Friday morning, be back late Sunday night.”  
“Good for you, Dad,” a welcome way to slip his own departure into the air, “I’ve got a few days off as well. Looks like you’re on your own, Chuck,” a smirk at that; teasing banter slower to come these days.  
“Don’t call me Chuck,” a glare from Charlie and a soft chuckle from Alan smoothing the tension.  
“Where you off to, Donnie?”  
‘Curious parents can be worse than FBI interrogators’, thinks Don. “Just going to a friends cabin for a few days,” a quick explanation to cover the fact he wasn’t planing on leaving town, “Just felt the need to get away from work for a while.”  
“You have been working hard,” supplies Charlie, “Having trouble sleeping?” Openly fishing now, covering it with the concern of a brother.  
A glare from Don at this, unnoticed by Alan, “Just had a long couple of weeks, I go on Thursday.”  
Acknowledgment from Alan and Charlie as the energy of the table returns to dinner, no-one noticing Charlie’s quietness.

********************  
“I’m leaving, Charlie,” calls Alan from the doorway, “I’ll see you Sunday.”  
“Okay, Dad,” Charlie says appearing in the doorway dressed for uni.  
“Remember, Larry said you can call him if you need anything and Megan said the same,” parental concern for the baby still present after all these years.  
Chagrin from Charlie, “Dad, it’s one weekend and I’m almost thirty. Go, have fun,” a small wave and cheeky grin to emphasise.  
“Bye, Charlie,” getting in the car now and then gone with a wave.  
‘Alone,” standing on the steps of the house, the emptiness sets in, ‘I want Don.”

********************  
Coming home from CalSci; darkness, late getting in but no one to notice, kept late by Larry and his never ending quest for the cosmos.  
A decision not to eat, to just go upstairs and collapse; sudden exhaustion after weeks of pretending, of needing.  
No lights in the bedroom. Opening the door and freezing, “Don?” Not believing the sight, the vision before him; metres of golden skin visible on the naked body kneeling on his turned down bed, glistening eyes seeking his out to gauge a reaction to the view of Don’s erection standing proud.  
“Don, what…” unable to continue, Charlie stares, transfixed by the beauty before him, still clutching the door handle.  
Movement as Don gets off the bed, seems to flow across the floor in graceful steps. Taking his bag and placing it on the floor, sliding fingers over skin to pull Charlie’s hand from the door and reaching for the light to flood the room with brightness.  
“Legality and morals are social constructs, you said,” Don drawing him closer now, undoing the buttons on his shirt, “You said if we both want it,” a pause here to slide the fabric from Charlie’s shoulders and smooth hands down quivering skin. “I want it, Charlie.”  
A gasp from Charlie as Don looks him in the eyes and he sees; resolution, desire, fear. “I want it too,” Charlie whispers.  
“Good,” Don murmurs, smiling, moving closer. Chest to naked chest, lips finally meeting in tender caress; swiftly changing to dangerous possession as lust takes over.  
“I love you, Don,” a gasp from Charlie as lips break apart.  
A sweet smile, “I love you too, Charlie,” another kiss; slower, emotive.  
“I want to fuck you, Don.” A needy whimper from Don this time as Charlie’s words shine through the cloud of desire.  
“Yes,” moans Don, “God, Charlie, please.”  
“No blindfold this time,” says Charlie, pulling Don’s hips closer. A quick shake of his head from Don as he shivers at the contact. “Have to get my pants off, Donnie,” chuckles Charlie at the sight of his ever controlled older brother lost. A jerky nod as eyes open and fingers move to his belt. “Kiss me, Don,” in control now, Charlie finally has what he wants.

Lips crash together, mouths opening, tongues meeting and dancing an erotic tango. Whimpers, groans and gasps fill the silence as the kiss changes to mimic the act to come and Charlie’s pants hit the floor. A deep groan from both as naked bodies collide, touching in all the right places, fitting like lost puzzle pieces.  
“Bed,” gasps Don, tugging softly and moving backward. A nod from Charlie as he follows blindly, unwilling to break contact even for a moment.

Don flat on his back, no conscious memory of how he got there, only of Charlie above him. Touching, kissing, seeking all the places that have been forbidden before.  
“Oh god,” whimpers from Don, “Charlie please. Inside me, please. Been so long. Missed you.”  
“Ssshh, Don,” soothing motions, a soft kiss, hand smoothing over Don’s chest as Charlie reaches for the lube in his bedside drawer, a hope of this moment unspoken in its very presence there, “I’ve got you, Don. I’ll get you there.”

Legs parting, slick fingers finding sensitive places and crevasses to dip into on a meandering path. “Charlie,” less plea, more demand; a fractured gasp as one slick finger slides into his heat, “Oh shit,” Don moans.  
Another joins the first, a slight discomfort at the sudden intrusion but overridden quickly by the mouth on his and awareness of what is to follow.  
Movement, fingers spreading, preparing the way to be joined by a third. “Charlie, Charlie,” broken, gasping moans escape Don, “Charlie, please, inside me. Want you inside me when I come.”  
A deep groan and a hand darting down to stave off his own orgasm, Charlie looks at Don. Another rumbling groan as Don starts begging again because Don begging is….sweet Lord, Don begging.  
“Okay,” can’t take any more of the begging, “Okay, Don.”

A quick grasp for a condom and a slick of lube for Charlie. Broken, pleading whimpers from Don as the fingers inside him are pulled free and then stillness as Charlie rests the head of his cock at Don’s entrance.

Eyes meeting, control slipping, Charlie gasps, “Don, be sure.”  
“Charlie, fuck me.”  
A deep groan and Charlie pushes his way into rippling, tight muscle. Feels the heat enclose him as Don forces his body to relax, to accept that this is what he wants. The stillness as full penetration is reached, as the complete joining of two bodies crashes into two souls melding. “God, I love you, Don,” breathes Charlie, overcome by the feeling of being inside his brother, his love, his everything.  
“Love you, Charlie,” an equally sacred whisper from Don.

Then movement as the sublime is taken over by the physical and made perfect. Thrusting deep, slick hands grasping at equally slick skin in an attempt to stay in the moment for as long as possible.  
Chanting names fill the room, interspersed by gasps and groans as flesh collides in a kaleidoscope of ecstasy. A final deep push, a quivering pause on the brink of the abyss and then a soul deep plunge in a shared race to the end.

********************  
“Charlie?” gasps Don, checking for consciousness in the body draped over and inside his own.  
“Yeah?” a small murmur from amidst the riot of curls on his chest confirms it.  
“You okay?” Don returns.  
A pause then, “I can’t feel my feet.” A deep laugh from Don’s chest shakes Charlie only to be joined by laughter from him. Eyes meet and both realise they survived and, in fact, feel better than they have in weeks.

A bit of manoeuvring, disposal of the condom and turning off of the light sees Charlie draped across Don’s chest again, in his arms, grinning. “I love you, Don.”  
“I love you too, Charlie,” a pause then, “It won’t be easy.”  
A soft sign causes the hairs to ripple across Don’s chest, “Nothing worth having ever is.”


End file.
